In the world of food, one thing is certain: Every year is sure to be more exciting than the last.

Chefs push boundaries a little more each year, challenging our taste buds with what they put on our plates. Home cooks gain confidence with every meal, which leads to cooking led by intuition – often the best kind. Farmers harvest new produce, inviting us to take chances on unfamiliar ingredients grown in our own backyards.

Even the very idea of eating evolves with each passing year: The tradition of sitting down to three home-cooked meals has made way for a culture that enjoys breakfasts on the go, healthful snacks throughout the day and dinners comprised out of small plates.

So what does 2017 have in store for us? According to industry experts who predict food trends each year, we can look forward to ethnic flavors and spices, food halls, house-made charcuterie, artisan ice creams, and vegetables as the stars of a meal.

We gathered information from the National Restaurant Association, which polls more than 1,000 professional chefs each year; The James Beard Foundation and restaurant consulting firm Baum + Whiteman; read on for a detailed look at what you will be eating this year.

Spice things up

First things first – get yourself a jar of turmeric. The yellow powder, prized for its anti-inflammatory properties, is most often found in curries but has many other uses in the kitchen. Stir it into scrambled eggs and soups, toss with roasted vegetables, mix into smoothies or blend with almond milk and grated ginger for a soothing drink. Start with a small amount: The flavor is mild and earthy but slightly bitter.

Other spices to try this year are harissa, a North African hot chili pepper paste or powder; peri peri, a South African hot sauce made with African bird’s eye chillies; ras el hanout, a spicy and floral Moroccan blend of more than a dozen spices; and shichimi, a Japanese mixture made with ground chiles, tangerine peel and flakes of nori, or dried seaweed.

If you need a little sweet with your spice, no worries: “As a nation we seem to have crossed the fine line between pleasure and pain,” said Baum + Whiteman. “But smart chefs are balancing the heat, often with sweetness.”

FIND IT: The hot chicken biscuit – fried chicken with hot sauce and honey on a homemade biscuit – served during brunch at Cardinal Provisions in Asbury Park; Korean fried chicken wings with a sauce of honey tobanjan, a spicy miso condiment, at Teak in Red Bank.

Bowled over

Every foodie with an Instagram account will tell you – food in bowls is where it’s at: oatmeal bowls, smoothie bowls, grain bowls. Things just seem to taste better when arranged in a big bowl, and the experts agree.

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“It all began innocuously with acai bowls for breakfast and then spread to fast-casual (restaurants) when chains discovered their customers were rejecting breads and wraps in favor of greens and grains,” according to Baum + Whiteman. “Office workers are discovering that takeaway bowls are less likely to spatter their laps and laptops, and chefs are finding that assembling a decorous bowl is easier and faster than the complexity of plating upscale entrees because they don’t have to fuss around with all that white space.

“What’s more,” they say. “if you hold a bowl Buddha-like while eating, you are psychologically more prone to mindfulness about your meal. You’ll also stand a better chance of catching all the flavors and textures with every bite and think you’re full a lot faster, even if you chuck the white carbs.”

“Vegetables in 2017 will extend their domination of the dinner plate, shoving animal protein to the edges – or off the plate altogether,” experts say. “We’re seeing a surge of serious chefs tilting their menus toward vegetables, but equally significant is the commotion among fast-casual chains.”

This refers to places like Sweetgreen, with locations in New York and across the country, and Beefsteak in Washington D.C.: Both are heavily focused on vegetables and have been very well received.

“It is no secret that Americans are eating less meat (26% of consumers said so last year) and that vegetarian/flexitarian diets (are) going mainstream,” reports Baum + Whiteman.

The James Beard Foundation says cauliflower is the new kale; the oft-overlooked cruciferous veggie has been growing in popularity lately. Chefs chop it small and use it in place of rice and to make pizza crusts, and some even serve thickly sliced “steaks” as an entree.

For a few years, mint chocolate chip was all the rage. Then came fro-yo and vegan ice cream.

This year, things are going to get a little crazier.

Last year, Joe D’Esposito opened an ice cream shop in Belmar that specializes in scoops served in fresh-baked waffles. Then he started making an outrageous dessert that experts predict will be everywhere this year.

D’Esposito calls his creation the sideshow shake; the confection is an Australian-born treat known there as the freakshake. “They’re pretty wild,” he said. “It’s a milkshake with ice cream piled on top and all kinds of (toppings) stuck to it, like giant lollipops, cotton candy, chocolate-covered potato chips or pretzels, caramel corn.”

Keeping with the veggie craze, trend watchers predict the rise of ice creams and pops made with avocado, sweet corn, sweet pepper, sweet potato and pumpkin.

A third ice cream trend is Thai rolled ice cream, which starts with liquid ice cream base poured onto an icy cold metal plate. It is scraped quickly with metal paddles, add-ins are mixed in, then it firms and is shaped into rolls.

Work, school, kids’ activities, exercise – people are busy these days. While busy people need to eat, busy people don’t always have time to shop or cook.

“Peapod, the country’s leading online grocer, recently found that most Americans (70 percent) cook the majority of their weekly dinners at home at least four nights a week, so it’s no surprise services that make it easier to do so are on the rise,” said Baum + Whiteman, which included meal kits on its list of top 10 food concept trends for 2017.

That’s where meal kit services come in. These gained major traction last year; think Blue Apron, HelloFresh and Plated. They eliminate the need to grocery shop and send pre-measured ingredients and recipes to your door.

For those who want to skip the cooking, meal delivery services are heating up, too. These are businesses run by chefs and food professionals who put effort into preparing healthy, satisfying, home-cooked food.